3/26/2010

(Note: “The Power of the Jump”™ is a semi-regular feature of this site, documenting examples of the Los Angeles Times’s use of its back pages to hide information that its editors don’t want you to see.)

Page One of today’s L.A. Times has an article titled Republicans walk the line over healthcare outrage. The deck headline reads: “The GOP could gain from voter anger stirred by the bill’s passage, displayed by threats and vandalism. But Democrats question whether the party has crossed into reckless provocation.”

Want to hear about that reckless provocation, coming only from the Republican side? Editors are happy to lay it all out on Page One:

In the days surrounding passage of healthcare overhaul legislation, Republican lawmakers have been left to strike a fine balance between harnessing voter outrage and fueling it.

Examples of raw anger have piled up. A call to New York Democrat Louise M. Slaughter said snipers would “kill the children of the members who voted for healthcare reform.” Later, a brick smashed her Niagara Falls district office window. Hate messages jammed the lines of Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, the anti-abortion Democrat whose last-minute support helped cinch passage. Law enforcement offered increased protection to at least 10 lawmakers, a security measure usually only afforded party leaders.

Now you can turn aaaaallllllllll the way back to page A17 if you want to read on.

It takes until paragraph 17 of an 18-paragraph story to mention that a bullet went through the window of a Virginia office belonging to Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor — at which point it is characterized as nothing more a claim made by Cantor, as an example of finger-pointing:

As the spring recess approached, emotions at the Capitol ran high. The violence was the talk of the Senate cloakroom. House members pointed fingers at one another. At a news conference, Cantor said a bullet struck a window this week in a building where his Richmond campaign office is housed; the police said someone fired into the air.

89 Responses to “The Power of the Jump™: L.A. Times Tells You About That Republican Provocation to Violence”

[...] UPDATE: Thanks to Instapundit for the link. I discuss how pleased this nut (who appears to be from Virginia) was about the bullet that went through the window of Eric Cantor’s Richmond office in this post. [...]

You people shouldn’t act like such children with these grade – school taunts. I’m an adult, and I know when legitimate dissent is happening. This patriot on Twitter is just expressing his joy and unbounded happiness over the recent passed legislation, and if you people would just get on board with the other 99% of the US population that agrees with us you’ll be much happier. Dissent is only patriotic when someone disagrees with our opponents – why is that so hard for you to understand?

The comments page, in both Safari and Firefox is acting really weird this week. First the comment would be posted but you couldn’t tell because the comment text box wouldn’t change. This last time, I got a blank page after posting the comment with a small number in the upper left hand corner.

Cantor’s office wasnt targeted. Richmond police investigated it was a random stray bullet. Furthermore, this office isn’t in Cantor’s congressional district but instead in the 3rd distrct Cantor represents the 7th. There are no campaign signs and this location isnt listed on his website. Theres also the point that his office wasnt struck by the bullet but rather the building the office was housed in was. I find it improbable that someone jumped through all those hoops to target an office of cantors not in his district, not on his website and not even his campaign headquarters.

“It takes until paragraph 17 of an 18-paragraph story to mention that a bullet went through the window of a Virginia office belonging to Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor — at which point it is characterized as nothing more a claim made by Cantor, as an example of finger-pointing:”

How many more paragraphs before they explain to you that it was a random gunshot?

imdeedoubledoo and Bob Ross are honest and their memories are NEVER selective and that’s why they’ll soon be pointing to the amazing number of acts of vandalism, gunshots and violence that have been documented as directed against Republicans and their campaign locations over the last decade.

Dissent is only patriotic when someone disagrees with our opponents – why is that so hard for you to understand?

Just this morning, I told someone, with re to HCR, that not everyone opposing the bill is a fear mongering hater and that to a good portion of people it’s about the math not adding up. But again, the media has taken the ball and run with it, and voila!, it’s now *truth* that only fear mongering haters are against the bill! Dissent is only patriotic if you reside on the perceived correct side of the aisle (of course being the D side).

Truth is squishy at best. Flexible, malleable and whoever has the loudest voice and the most endurance gets to determine what it is at any given moment. That’s what we’ve been reduced to.

President Barack Obama returned Thursday to the city where he launched his health care plan nearly three years ago to sell the final product, part of a broader economic agenda that is gaining legislative steam in Washington.

But the people he says his policies are targeted to — the middle class — are the ones he appears to be losing. … As Mr. Obama pushes the agenda forward, middle class voters are moving away, according to polling. Middle-income voters—those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 a year, take a negative view, on the whole, of the president’s job performance, with 42% disapproving and 52% approving, according to the March Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Among all wage groups, by contrast, opinion on Mr. Obama is nearly evenly split, with 48% approving and 47% disapproving, according to the poll. A year earlier, voters in the $50,000-to-$75,000 bracket had a far more positive view of the president, with 56% approving and 29% disapproving of his job performance…

[...] of individuals, the importance of small government to not interfere in people’s lives, that Americans exercising their First Amendment rights is good, that the country is ruled by the PEOPLE, as stated in our nation’s most cherished [...]

The latest report I read indicates that no one shot at Cantor’s office, but a bullet fired nearby went through his window.

Police in Richmond, Va., said a bullet broke a window in Cantor’s campaign office early Tuesday. The bullet “was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction,” a police statement said. “The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds.”

That’s not to claim that aren’t nuts on the left, just that Representative Cantor was honestly mistaken when he claimed someone fired into his office. Oh, and Richmond is not exactly a safe place to take a walking tour.

Violence against Federal officials is news. Whether the LA Times covers it fairly is not. I think this article is a non-story. Factually, more violence is being perpetrated against Dems then Reps. That doesn’t make it better or worse, just is.
What would be more newsworthy would be to know how many people approve of such behavior. I bet that is starting to grow. And that is the scary world we find ourselves.

imdw and BobRoss, why don’t we believe you? Could it be because both of you regularly lie for the Democrat cause? Why yes it is!

Or, Dan, you could believe the Richmond police as quoted in this USA Today article or this CNN report

You know, it’s one thing to be so partisan you cannot see the other side’s POV, but to deny actual factual, provable reports just ’cause you don’t like imdw? That’s just weird.

I’m sure Cantor made an honest mistake. Meanwhile, the moron Patterico noted was making threats agaisnt the Pailins has hopefully been met with some nice Secret Service folks. Those Tweets were disgusting

I dont espect you to come out of your comfort zone PCD and hear things you dont like and believe them. Democrat causes? The name of their party is democratic. The term you are looking for is democratic party causes and even so you’re lacking the data to know that. I’ll help you out.

“Cantor’s office is in a small building several blocks from the heart of downtown, near the historic Jefferson Hotel. It has several small offices in it, of which Cantor’s is one.There are no Cantor signs on the doors or windows.”

Cantor’s office was housed in a building not in his congressional district, not listed on his site, and not one of his main offices. Sounds like someone would have to jump through a lot of hoops just to find out the office was his and then not specifically target it.

Based on the police report it probably was random. Course we’ve had other shots fired in the past through Bush-Cheney campaign offices and Republican offices that got no media attention whatsoever. Ropelights conjecture about Slaughter’s office is accurate.

31 his comparison was not accurate at all. Cantor lied he wasnt targeted. According to news reports his office had no signs showing that it was Cantor’s office. It wasnt in his district wasnt listed on his website. We’re here in the now. Democrats are being targeted by the fringe and were egged on by a major political party.

Corwin, how do you know more threats of violence are made against left leaning individuals? This may mean nothing more than increased reporting by one side than the other (assuming your evidence of increased violence by the right is nothing more than an assumption).

1. The guy’s obviously an idiot, but unless he contacts Palin directly by phone, fax, or in person, his “threats” are blogger rants. Doesn’t excuse them but that’s what they are. Maybe Twitter needs a conduct clause to shut down abusive posters.
2. As far as the “shot into Rep Cantor’s office”, the Richmond police have determined based on the trajectory, it was a bullet fired into the air which GLANCED off an office window (did not penetrate the window) on its way down. Nobody took a shot at Cantor’s office. Do some research next time.

Glad the trolls are running down the facts on the “randomness” factor…

From the Seattle Times – “Protesters have been demonstrating at Driehaus’ Ohio home, said Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the anti-abortion Democrat who joined Stupak in voting for the health bill. A rock was thrown through the window of Driehaus’ Cincinnati office Sunday, and a death threat was phoned in to his Washington office a day later, Mulvey said”

Only one problem… Rep. Driehaus’ office is on the 30th floor of a downtown skyscraper.

#31 notso, you are correct. I don’t know if the reporting is accurate. I am basing that on what I see/read and that includes FOX, CNN and my local TV.
I do believe tensions and violence are on the increase. That is as much a gut feel as what I have read/seen. It could only be due to increased coverage and not a true increase.
I believe we are in for a period of conflict. Not necessarily physical. Our entire economy has been in a bubble; created by a Federal behemoth with a finger glued to the Printing Press (of dollars), a foot stuck on the accelerator (of spending more) and both eyes are blindfolded.
The gap between the governing and the governed has never been wider. It’s no wonder more people are turning to violence.
Protesters are made fun of by the powers that be. For many, few options are left.

Unless they have someone who copped out to the shooting, I’m uncertain how the police would *know* this was a random shooting. The timing and Cantor’s identity give any rational observer reason to question such an assertion.

Patterico:
“Unless they have someone who copped out to the shooting, I’m uncertain how the police would *know* this was a random shooting. The timing and Cantor’s identity give any rational observer reason to question such an assertion.”

“a bullet went through the window of a Virginia office belonging to Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor.”

This is not supported by publically available information. Please see the following news [object](excerpt included)Later Thursday, however, Richmond police said in a news release that the bullet had been fired into the air around 1 a.m. Tuesday. It finished its arc back to earth at a sharp downward trajectory, breaking a window pane on the bottom floor of the two-story brick building where Cantor’s campaign leases the top floor.
The spent bullet hit the floor about one foot inside the shattered pane. No one was in the building at the time. A police investigation has yielded no suspects.
The pastel green structure with a purple door resembles a town house, and from the outside it is difficult to distinguish whether it is a business or residence. Except for a brass plate by the door identifying it as The Reagan Building, nothing outdoors links it to Cantor or to the GOP.
It is owned by the political consulting firm whose clients include Cantor and former Gov. and former Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Gilmore.

The distinction between a window in an office belonging to the Congressman and a widow in another office in the same building is not terribly important. But I think that your statement wrongly leads to the conclusion that bullet was fired as a threat/attack on the congressman. I haven’t seen any evidence that is that case. And there appears to be strong evidence to the contrary.

Assuming the Fox Article is accurate. The writer of the LA times article may have known that the bullet was most likely a stray shot. Therefore it’s coverage in the article may have been appropriate. I have no idea if this is the case, but I’d like to know. I’d also like to know if the congressman was aware of the police findings when he made his statements.

You have a strong and well documented stance on correcting published errors so I’m asking you to investigate the facts and correct your post as appropriate.

I am pretty pissed off about this. Republicans have faced all kinds of attacks, and this is nakedly dishonest and partisan. It could inspire crazies on either side, and that’s not how things should be done.

Later Thursday, however, Richmond police said in a news release that the bullet had been fired into the air around 1 a.m. Tuesday. It finished its arc back to earth at a sharp downward trajectory, breaking a window pane on the bottom floor of the two-story brick building where Cantor’s campaign leases the top floor.
The spent bullet hit the floor about one foot inside the shattered pane. No one was in the building at the time. A police investigation has yielded no suspects.
The pastel green structure with a purple door resembles a town house, and from the outside it is difficult to distinguish whether it is a business or residence. Except for a brass plate by the door identifying it as The Reagan Building, nothing outdoors links it to Cantor or to the GOP.
It is owned by the political consulting firm whose clients include Cantor and former Gov. and former Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Gilmore.

The distinction between a window in an office belonging to him and a widow in another office in the same building is not terribly important. I think that your statement wrongly leads to the conclusion that bullet was fired as a threat/attack on the congressman. I haven’t seen any evidence that is the case. And there appears to be strong evidence to the contrary.

Assuming the Fox Article is accurate, the writer of the LA times article may have known that the bullet was most likely a stray shot. Therefore it’s coverage in the article may have been appropriate. I have no idea if this is the case, but I’d like to know. I’d also like to know if the congressman was aware of the police findings when he made his statements.

You have a strong and well documented stance on correcting errors so I’m asking you to investigate the facts and correct your post as appropriate.

time1123, I thought the congressman used the specific office that had its window broken for conferences. Lots of buildings share conference rooms like this, and if that’s the case,this joint room is part of what he uses to serve his district.

Regardless, if Cantor was a democrat, it would be front page NYT news.

Dustin, I haven’t read that he used it for conferences. But the point isn’t about who owned the window the bullet with through. The point is that it does not appear the congressman was the motivation behind the shooting.

This isn’t a horserace anyway. Anyone who has a brain knows that lefty kooks do attempt to do terrible things to republicans. And righty kooks attempt the converse. The GOP convention had a bomb threat. Reagan was shot at. The mansion for the governor here in Texas was fucking burned down. A communist flew a plane into the IRS offices. Obama knowingly endorsed the writings of a democrat who tried to kill US Soldiers. They were probably close friends. Not to mention that his mentor who baptized his kids praised 9/11.

The point of this is not that we shouldn’t elect democrats and repeal healthcare. The point is that both sides have kooks, and if you find yourself convinced it’s a good reason to support one or the other party, you’re being conned.

I’m disgusted that democrats are gleefully exploiting and apparently inventing a lot of attacks (such as the “N***ER” + Spit claim) instead of answering the TEA party’s excellent points that we’re out of money and screwing ourselves to go after more huge entitlements. The LA Times wants to help, and they suck for that.

“The four men arrested in January for their stunt to embarrass staffers in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) are prepared to plead guilty, legal sources say, in return for reduced charges.

Federal prosecutors today filed misdemeanor charges against the four. James O’Keefe, who became a media sensation last year for his videos involving ACORN employees, and three others were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses. Two of them went to her office pretending to be telephone repairmen. The charges said all four were in on the plan.

Because the charge is a misdemeanor — and not a felony — the maximum sentence is six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The government dropped its earlier, more serious, charges of tampering with government phone lines.” – source, msnbc.com 3/26/10

Just remember that the MSM definitely, absolutely knew that someone (from Mars perhaps, reports are sketchy at the moment) from the Tea Party crowd spat at poor widdle John Lewis, who subsequently ran crying to his media bootlickers. And never mind that despite hundreds of vid cameras recording the event in the fervent hope that this type of wish fulfillment occurred, no evidence has emerged. Who knows why the black Dems decided to suddenly walk right in the middle of the crowd, despite none of the other Dems doing it, except for Bawney Frag. We have a grand total of one vid with some white guy cupping his hands and shouting at them – oooh, what a wacist!

LOL, DCSCA, O’Keefe is going to get a slap on the wrist, which he deserves.

As you note, the left’s claims of phone tampering were total bullshit. Since those charges were dropped, there’s far less legal liability, and the idea that they are going to go to prison is absolutely insane.

How the hell is Cantor supposed to know why a bullet broke his window? He’s a controversial politician and can interpret a bullet through his window as a threat, if he wants to. So the police are saying ‘nothing to see here’. That’s meaningless. The DOJ said nightsticks and black panthers at a polling station were also ‘nothing to see here’. I guess that means the right is busted again?

Your ‘busted’ crap shows you’re trying to exploit these problems as some kind of horserace. You’re the problem.

Thanks for sharing on O’Keefe. I consider that really good news. They deserve to pay a minor penalty for their minor offense. And it’s hilarious how far the left went in lying about that story. They are completely vindicated of the bugging and tampering charges, and never denied that they lied about what they were doing when attempting to investigate a corrupt office.

It’s their classic fall-back position, Dmac… the victim. When they couldn’t win the health-care argument on its merits or sheer force of their ideas, they had to hurriedly force the poorly thought-out, terribly constructed bill through Congress. And then they fabricate and allege wrongdoing by their opponents and play the helpless victims.

And why not… it’s worked for them for several decades, turds that they are.

Richmond Police Investigate Cantor Building VandalismThe Richmond Police Department is investigating an act of vandalism at the Reagan Building, 25 E. Main St., Richmond, Virginia. A first floor window was struck by a bullet at approximately 1 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23. The building, which has several tenants including an office used by Congressman Eric Cantor, was unoccupied at the time.

A Richmond Police detective was assigned to the case. A preliminary investigation shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds. There was no other damage to the room, which is used occasionally for meetings by the congressman.

The Richmond Police Department is sharing information about the incident with appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Other than the fact that a consulting company that has Cantor as a client uses this building what evidence is there that the congressman was the target / motivation for this?

The more I look into this the more it appears you have miss-represented the situation in a way that favors your point.

However, given your history and record I’m assuming that you’ve looked into this also, or will update the post with a correction if you’re in error.

Other than the fact that a consulting company that has Cantor as a client uses this building what evidence is there that the congressman was the target / motivation for this?

The more I look into this the more it appears you have miss-represented the situation in a way that favors your point.

However, given your history and record I’m assuming that you’ve looked into this also, or will update the post with a correction if you’re in error.

I’m having trouble understanding what you think I “miss-represented.” Apparently the bullet broke a window at a building where Cantor’s office is located. The window is to a room that the Congressman sometimes uses for meetings. The police say the shot was fired in the air, which is evident from the post. What was misrepresented??

If you changed the party of the party involved, the reaction to this story would be incredibly different. Were this the White House instead of one of Cantor’s offices, these clowns would not be making the same quibbling sophistry that they have expressed here.

Why don’t you just admit that you looked up the word “sophistry” and are trying to insert it into every conversation? I’ll bet you don’t even know what it means, and since I’m an adult, I happen to know what I’m talking about.

JD, what quibbling sophistry? All the available evidence is that the bullet was a stray shot unrelated to cantor. This is based on a statement by the police and (apparently) agreed to by the congressman’s office. If you have some information to the contrary please provide it. I’ve looked and I haven’t found any.